A little more effort than just dumping them in at a couple of accesses would do wonders for the fishery. When you dump them like that they all hang together like a school of crappie which makes loading a bucket way too easy. They could actually stock less fish while having a much better overall fishery if they'd break up the gang a little bit.

Being able to stand in one spot making identical drifts and catching 15-20 fish is not what trout fishing should be like. There is a bit more to "fishery management" than just throwing fish in a river, for crying out loud.

I agree, It wouldn’t much effort to make the fish they do stock go a little further and maybe grow a little before being taken. What the river really needs is a high water year.

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On a float last Fall, a week or so after a stocking there were dead gigged rainbows littering the bottom for 3 miles above Barclay. I called MDC and reported it, then asked some folks that I know near there to watch for any conservation vehicles (particularly one with a jet boat in tow). Almost two weeks afterwards they saw one guy in a MDC truck go by...but he came right back out less than 10 minutes later.

So in all actuality, until they decide to take the illegal gigging thing serious then it probably doesn't matter.

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It would probably fish allot better if they float stocked it, instead of road stocking.. The fish are all balled up, and they are easy pickings.

That's exactly what they do on the McKenzie here in Oregon. The guide I used was telling me how they stock the stocked sections of the river. He said they actually float the river putting in fish throughout the stream as they drifted downstream. Makes perfect sense to me. But, even with that method, most of the stockers are all pretty well caught out by the end of the summer season. He didn't give me a number on how many fish get released. I did catch one stocker while floating my trip. But it was about a 10" fish. All the rest were wild native fish that are to be immediately released. MO should do something similar if they wanted to help with fish spreading out.

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They do float stock the browns in the Current. Not sure about others. Niangua stockers always seem to be by a road access. Used to float it the day before park C&R Season. Usually caught 80+ out of the road holes, better fish where not in the road holes.

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They do float stock the browns in the Current. Not sure about others. Niangua stockers always seem to be by a road access. Used to float it the day before park C&R Season. Usually caught 80+ out of the road holes, better fish where not in the road holes.

I know that Browns are stocked in the Meramec below the park by road. I have been there when they stocked it. We have been told that the fish spread out from the stocking site within hours but I feel they stay within a limited area for a day or so. I also feel that an area should be closed for a day after stocking to allow the fish to move rather than be vacuumed out by locals. As for conservation officers not responding to complaints about giggers, there are only so many agents per county. If you expect them to drop everything and rush to a crime scene, forget about it. I remember having my license checked almost everytime I went out fishing or hunting. It's so rare today as to be unique.

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If you expect them to drop everything and rush to a crime scene, forget about it.﻿﻿

Yeah, Operation Game Theft is pretty much BS propaganda when it comes to our rivers. Somebody called them a few years ago because they thought someone in our neighborhood shot a deer out of their yard...and they all showed up like a SWAT team within 30 minutes. 🙄

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Fish enforcement is a joke! Only time I’ve been checked is while at a remote access while eating lunch out of the trunk of my Mom’s expensive luxury car (Jeep was in the shop, she was in Florida for a month). Not from around there most definitely. One was a dbag, had his hand on his weapon ready to draw the whole time. We were obvious threats! Armed with a deli sub in one hand and a cold beer in the other.